


Love God Would be Proud

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Gravity Falls, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Nico is a Nerd, a group of bats is called a colony, nico and hazel are almost the mystery twins, will is obsessed with mothman, yes its a gravity falls au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 13:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11647218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: So Nico’s job was incredibly embarrassing, especially whenever a cute tourist stopped by on a family trip or something, and Nico had to awkwardly avoid eye contact through the entire tour - but it was fine, because they were tourists and Nico would never see them again, right?Well, except, then Will showed up.





	Love God Would be Proud

**Author's Note:**

> i got this idea and made the mistake of telling my friend who then insisted that i write it immediately so here this is i have a whole lot of other things i should be doing but like???? gravity falls au

When Nico and Hazel had moved in with their very distant great uncle (nicknamed _grunkle_ by Hazel almost immediately after meeting him), Nico had been expecting a summer of sitting around, bored out of his mind. You know, like he would’ve been at home. But _no,_ he had to be put to work at their grunkle’s tourist trap, the Mystery Shack.

Hazel had made fun of Nico for a solid week after they moved in because when Nico was a kid he’d been obsessed with the supernatural - partly because he had wanted to talk to the ghosts of his mother and sister, partly because Bigfoot was _totally real, okay?_ \- so when they found out they would be giving tours through a fake museum of fake supernatural creatures, Hazel almost cried. Tears of laughter, of course, because she would do anything to embarrass her younger brother (by a _month,_ Hazel, would you let it _go?)._

After that first week, Nico had found the first journal - a collection of writings on strange creatures that had supposedly been found in the woods near the Shack. Nico had (not so) subtly asked their grunkle about the possibility of something like Bigfoot living near there, but all he’d gotten was a laugh in his face and an, “Everything here is fake, kid; no monsters, no magic, it’s all just a big hoax. The people love it!”

But, of course, Nico hadn’t believed him and snuck out one night to try to find some of the creatures listed in the journal, only to be chased back into the Shack after about an hour by a herd of something similar to squirrels. Except...more like garden gnomes? He’d blamed it on his overtired brain at the time, but then he’d found a detailed description of the gnomes later on in the journal and decided to avoid that part of the woods for a while after.

After a month, Nico had managed to discover for himself fifteen of the creatures listed in his first journal, and found a second journal with an all new set of creatures to find - his total count so far was seventeen between the two books.

Of course, all of this monster hunting happened in between shifts at the Mystery Shack, giving tours of stupid, fake attractions, like a clay part-goat-part-fish skeleton that Hazel had been paid to create - paid with candy, not even money. Did their grunkle think they were twelve, or something?

So Nico’s job was incredibly embarrassing, especially whenever a cute tourist stopped by on a family trip or something, and Nico had to awkwardly avoid eye contact through the entire tour - but it was fine, because they were tourists and Nico would never see them again, right?

Well, except, then Will showed up.

Nico was scheduled to lead only a single tour that day and was hiding behind the counter in the gift shop in hopes that someone else - Hazel - would lead the tour for him instead. However, Hazel’s new boy-of-the-month was there, hogging all of her attention. At least Nico liked Frank a little bit more than he’d liked Leo - Frank seemed a little bit afraid of him, which is always a plus in Nico’s book.

“Nico, your tour starts in five,” Jason told him from where he stood next to the place that Nico was currently sitting on the ground, hiding from the customers.

“You wanna do it for me?” he asked, hoping he wouldn’t have to resort to begging.

“Dude, you know I’m not trained,” Jason reminded him. “I’ll walk back there and be like, ‘here’s the goat-fish I watched Hazel sculpt last week,’ instead of saying whatever the hell you’re supposed to say.”

“Nah, I think you could do it,” Nico said encouragingly. "We'll never know until you try it!"

“Absolutely not,” Jason said, voice final. He glanced out at the store for a second before saying, “Hey, I think there’s a boy here for the tour that might be your type.”

“I don’t have a type,” Nico said on reflex, and kneeled to peek over the edge of the counter. “Where?”

Jason nodded toward the postcards where a tall, blond boy with a million freckles was flicking through the rack.

“Oh no, I have a type,” Nico groaned, and slid back out of view. “Jason, I can’t go out there again and avoid eye contact with cute boys like my life depends on it.”

“You avoid eye contact with me just fine,” Jason told him. “It’ll be fine, just go in approximately two minutes when the tour starts.”

“I’ll ask Hazel to do it,” Nico said, and rose to his feet.

“She won’t do it,” Jason told him.

“I’ll make her do it!” Nico said, and returned after about thirty seconds. “She won’t do it.”

“Told you.”

“Shut up,” Nico grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. “This wouldn’t be so bad if I could put something _real_ in the museum, you know? Like something from those journals I found.”

“That stuff’s fake, dude, let it go,” Jason complained. “And go start your tour, you can hide back here again when you’re done.”

“Uh, no, when I’m done I’m gonna go catch a monster to shove in your face,” Nico told him, “because I’m _right!”_

 

Nico had managed to not make a _complete_ fool of himself - it was hard not to when detailing the history of the six-pack o’lope - but he worked for tips and got about one dollar per person which wasn’t too bad. He had been about to run off immediately after the tour was finished to collect his journals and head to the woods when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned around to find himself eye-level with a pretty cute nose and some very freckled cheeks, and thankfully Tall, Blond, and Handsome spoke first because Nico didn’t know if he would be able to get his voice to work for a minute there.

“So, uh, the six-pack o’lope, huh?” Cute Boy said, hands stuffed in his pockets and a bright smile on his face.

Nico winced. “Please don’t sue me for outright lying to your face, I work for tips and the twenty bucks I just got is all I have.”

Cute Boy laughed and Nico felt like he’d been punched in the heart. “No, no, not suing. Just, ah, you don’t believe in this stuff, do you?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “No way in hell. You know that picture of a horse riding another horse is photoshopped, right? The one under the giant spotlight over there?” Nico threw a thumb over his shoulder, not even having to look to know that he was pointing in the right direction - unfortunately. “And that skeleton thing? My sister made that out of clay, like, last week.”

“Sister, huh?” Cute Boy asked, and Nico frowned. Of course this was just another straight boy looking for a pretty girl.

“She’s over by the vending machine talking to her boyfriend,” Nico answered, crossing his arms and glancing at the clock across the store - one more hour until closing.

He noticed Cute Boy taking a second to look in Hazel’s direction before returning his focus to Nico. “So, half-sister, I assume?”

Nico stared him dead in the eye, expression completely blank - his usual customer service face. “No, we’re twins, can’t you tell?”

Cute Boy froze for half a second before bursting out laughing. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but that… That was hilarious! Oh my god, I’m so sorry, but people must ask you that a lot, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have been so quick with that response. Unless you just always think that quick, in which case, very impressive. I’m Will, by the way.” He held out a hand at the end of his sentence, though he’d spoken so fast that Nico hesitated for a second, trying to catch up.

“Uh, I’m Nico. And, yeah. People ask kind of a lot,” he answered, shaking Will’s hand briefly. “We’re only a month apart, so people usually assume we’re twins based off our ages, but it’s always half-siblings when they can see us.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to invade your personal life,” Will said, a little awkwardly. “I just, um, well my mom and I just moved to Gravity Falls and we don’t know anybody or anything cool to do around here so I was kind of just off exploring by myself and stopped by here, but, um. Maybe if you’re interested, sometime you and I could hang out, maybe try to find something for the tour that’s maybe a little bit more realistic?”

“Do you mean, like, trying to hunt down actual supernatural creatures?” Nico asked, trying to act like the idea was totally absurd even though he would _love to_ \- he just can’t have a cute boy thinking he’s crazy _this_ early on, right?

“If you think that’s not crazy, then yeah, that’s exactly what I mean,” Will said. “If that does sound a little crazy, then I guess I’m hoping you’ll humor me?”

Nico let the tiniest smile sneak onto his lips. “Come back in an hour? We’ll be closed then, and maybe then we can try to find something real for this stupid museum.”

“Great!” Will exclaimed. “It’s a date, I’ll see you in an hour!”

He ran out of the door before Nico could ask, “Date? As in _date_ date?”

 

Nico, having moved to Gravity Falls, Oregon from Los Angeles, wasn’t much fan of the cold, but he was able to tolerate it. Unlike, apparently, Will, who showed up about five minutes after closing wearing a jacket, a light scarf, and a beanie. He held two flashlights in one hand, even though the sun hadn’t even set yet.

Nico wanted to punch himself for thinking that Will looked even cuter, all bundled up like he was. Instead, he excused himself to run inside and grab the first journal, and returned in less than two minutes.

They head into the woods because, as Nico said, they weren’t “going to find anything walking down the streets.” They walked a very short distance, enough to say that they’re definitely In the Woods, but still close enough that they could see the Mystery Shack through the trees.

“So, um,” Nico started, “did you have some kind of supernatural creature in mind for this? Or are we just walking and hoping to stumble across something?”

“I’ve always wanted to go on a hunt for Mothman,” Will told him. “I used to live in Tennessee, and Mothman was last spotted in West Virginia, you know? So I always figured that after so many years he might’ve moved closer to me, and there was a chance I could find him if I ever went on a hunt.”

Nico knew the first journal cover to cover, details about every creature listed. There definitely was _not_ anything about Mothman. He flipped open the book anyway. “Uh, okay, so maybe not Mothman? There’s no evidence that he ever came this far west. What about something else?”

“Does that book list all the supernatural stuff nearby?” Will asked, leaning forward to take a peek.

Nico pulled the journal closer to his chest, angling it so that Will wouldn’t be able to see the pages. “It’s, uh, something like that.”

“Where did you get it?” Will tried again. “Is it something the Mystery Shack sells?”

“No, I got it from my grunk--” he coughed, cutting himself off and starting over. “My great uncle’s house. I found it.”

“Oh, okay. Cool,” Will said, finally letting it drop. “So, what are we looking for, then?”

Nico flipped through a few more pages before landing on one of his favorites. “Here we go. It’s called the Hide-Behind. Nobody’s ever seen it before. It sneaks around behind you in the woods and makes this chattering noise, but when you try to look for it, it hides behind something so quickly that it’s nearly impossible to find.”

Will smiled. “Sounds like fun.”

 

It was a good thing Will had brought those flashlights because the two of them were out in the woods for hours after the sun set. Will had seemed perfectly content to keep looking around for the Hide-Behind, even though they hadn’t found even a single, tiny piece of evidence pointing toward the fact that the Hide-Behind was anywhere near. Nico, on the other hand, having gotten almost no sleep the night before because he’d been too busy trying to memorize the second journal, was exhausted. He also figured that the Hide-Behind wouldn’t be visible so late at night, anyway.

Nico stopped dead in his tracks, grabbing Will’s arm to stop him as well. He rubbed at one of his tired eyes as he said, “Okay, I’m sorry, but it’s super late, and we’ve been walking around for hours without finding anything at all, so I think we should probably head back.”

Will nodded slowly. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Sorry we didn’t find anything,” Nico said as they started back the way they came.

“It’s okay,” Will replied with a shrug. “I got to get to know you, so that’s all that really matters.”

Nico felt a blush rise to his cheeks - thankfully it was so dark that he didn’t think Will would notice. Something in his head started screaming _It’s a DATE-date!_ over and over again.

Suddenly, Will froze, grabbing Nico’s hand to make him stop as well. _A DATE!_ Nico’s head kept screaming.

“Did you hear that?” Will asked. “You said the Hide-Behind made some kind of chattering noise, right?”

Nico held his breath, trying to hear whatever Will was hearing. He puffed out a disappointed breath when he heard it. “Will, I think that’s just the squirrels.”

Will frowned. “Oh. Okay. Sorry, we should keep going, then.”

Nico could feel Will’s grip on his hand loosening, and Nico started fighting himself internally to find the courage to keep his hold on Will’s hand. He was just about to lose his fight when something swooped down out of the trees, just barely missing Nico’s head as he ducked, pulling Will down with him.

“What was that?” Will asked frantically. “A bird or something? A bat?”

Nico glanced behind himself, spotting the glowing orb that had just dive bombed them, spinning around and readying for another attack.

“Not a bird!” Nico exclaimed, tightening his grip on Will’s hand and launching into a run. “An Eye-Bat, they usually fly in swarms, we have to run!”

He pulled Will through the woods, unsure of the direction they were headed anymore until he saw a light through the trees and hurried in that direction. The familiar shape of the Mystery Shack came into view, and Nico continued to drag Will behind him until they were safely on the steps of the front porch.

They both collapsed, leaning against each other and breathing heavy as they sat on the wooden steps. They watched as a swarm of Eye-Bats - nearly ten of them - strayed only a few feet from the edge of the woods before retreating back.

“Why did they stop coming after us?” Will asked.

“They can’t come close to the Shack,” Nico answered, already starting to flip through the pages of his journal. “Nothing non-human can, it’s protected. It’s probably the safest place in Gravity Falls.”

Will leaned closer with a smile. “Guess that means I’ll have to come around pretty often so I don’t get myself into trouble.”

Nico noticed him leaning _very_ close and he _really_ wanted to kiss Will because it kind of looked like that’s what Will was going for too? But he’d just flipped to the Eye-Bat page in the journal, so, like an idiot, he asked, “Can I have one of those flashlights?”

Thankfully, Will’s smiled remained as he passed over the light. Nico leaned closer and tilted the page toward Will, allowing him to see the sketch of the Eye-Bat in the journal as he started to read from the page. “Eye-Bats look like eyeballs with yellow pupils and black batwings. They appear to be bioluminescent, as their bodies emit light. Eye-Bats inhabit the woods in Gravity Falls and travel in groups or colonies, and are very fast. Another species of Eye-Bat, no longer found in the Gravity Falls area, looks exactly the same only double the size, and shoots lasers out of its eye.”

“Geez,” Will commented. “Glad we didn’t find the larger species.”

“Agreed.”

“So, I guess this monster hunt didn’t really go as planned, huh?” Will said. “Maybe next time will go a little better.”

“Next time?” Nico repeated.

“If you’re interested,” Will replied.

“Yeah, um, yes,” Nico stuttered. “I’m interested.”

“Great!” Will exclaimed, and pulled a marker out of his pocket. He lifted the hand that was still holding Nico’s and wrote across Nico’s pale skin. “Text me sometime, and we can make plans.” Before Nico knew it, Will was pressing a kiss to Nico’s cheek and rising off the steps.

 

Nico, as tired as he was, didn’t sleep much that night either. He studied every page in the second journal, committing it all to memory, though he finally succumbed to sleep about halfway through the journal. He woke up again after not enough sleep to Hazel playing some boy band song way too loud, and immediately went back to reading.

He didn’t stop until he found the perfect creature for his and Will’s next monster hunt. He called Will when he finally found the page.

“Okay, so, Mothman, right?” Nico said instead of hello. “I may have found some evidence that might point to him living near Gravity Falls. I was thinking that he could be our next creature to find?” He wasn’t sure why he phrased that as a question, maybe because Will hadn’t said anything yet.

He could hear the smile in Will’s voice when he spoke. “It’s a date.”

“Like, a _date_ date?” Nico asked, but Will had already hung up.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! i hope you liked it as much as i did!!!! i love gravity falls so much and i will never not be sad that it ended!!!!


End file.
